How do I want my life to be?

Planning Live- A Whole New Approach

We are all used to answering typical, surface, get – to – know- you questions whether we are filling out job applications, trying to come up with something unique for a dating app, or sharing polite conversation with someone we’ve just met. “What’s brought you here today? What are you hoping to gain from this experience/position? What are your hobbies and or areas of interest? What are your goals for the future?”  My favorite so far is What’s your best scar story? My point being they are all questions we hear the same familiar, innocuous answers to.

Living with a disability I am also asked, “What is it you need and are you able to provide the necessary documentation, to prove it as a legitimate medical need?”

Planning Live, brought vibrancy, color, and action into my life. Every question I was asked during the process had something to do with me personally as a whole human being. The process reminded me again and again that I am a person not a problem. Many of the questions were astounding to me because I had never been asked questions about possibilities, by someone eager to help me have the kind of life I want to have. Until my experience with Planning Live, my dreams and my disability never existed together in the same thought!

Planning Live is a process not a document. It’s a series of conversations that encourages people with disabilities to explore possibilities, think about things that matter to us, what we want beyond daily care and functional equipment. The uniquely wonderful thing about the Planning Live process is that it addresses both what we need and what we dream about doing. No two plans will ever look the same. They are as unique as the individuals they represent.